66 | June• 2019
kids living nearby had been out of the
classroom for years. AVSI knew that
they’d need outreach workers to coax
children in. Alaa Baassiri, 30, from the
nearby town of Saida, is one of a team
of four outreach workers, hired to take
on the challenge in January 2017. It has
been surprisingly difficult.
Alaa’s first mission to a village called
Kfarmelki was tough. With his col-
leagues, he began knocking on doors,
eager to recruit some pupils. But as
soon as parents realised why he was
visiting, the atmosphere soured. “Go
away,” said one man. “I don’t want to
meet NGOs. They’re all liars.”
By the end of the first day, ten kids
were registered, bringing them an im-
portant step closer to the classroom- but the parents of eight others still
refused to discuss it. Their trust would
have to be won. But Alaa and his team
After about three months tuition at
the school in literacy and numeracy,
split into manageable two six-week
‘cycles’, most children would be ready
to enrol in Lebanon’s public schools.
It all began far away in Italy, back in
1972, when a group of young friends
founded the Association of Volunteers
in International Service (AVSI). In the
wake of the Syrian crisis, it and other
NGOs collaborated to found a net-
work of community schools. AVSI took
responsibility for four in Lebanon,
among them the school in Zefta.
The network of schools aims to help
the more than 27,000 refugee children
across Lebanon and Jordan over three
years. But although the school is warm
and safe, has dedicated teachers and
a minibus to bring the children to the
school, it has had its work cut out.
When it first opened, many Syrian
Outreach worker Alaa Baasiri at the home of Maan’s mother Amel. It was
surprisingly hard to convince some parents to let their children attend the school